Easter Sunday came and went without the Pope so much as mentioning the biggest scandal to hit the Catholic Church in recent memory. Instead, the dean of the College of Cardinals lashed out at everyone who dares question Benedict.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, standing next to Benedict at Easter Mass, basically compared the Pope to Jesus and warned the growing chorus of heathens to stop fucking with the Holy See. From the Times:

Holy Father, the people of God are with you, and do not let themselves be impressed by the gossip of the moment, by the challenges that sometimes strike at the community of believers," Cardinal Sodano said. The cardinal referred to the apostle Peter's account of Jesus during the passion: "When he was reviled, reviled not again."

Benedict rose to greet Cardinal Sodano with a warm embrace.

During his "Urbi et Orbi" address, the Pope touched on many problems that the world is facing — like Latin American drug trafficking — but did not mention pedophilic priests and his ambivalence towards them. But many prominent European Catholics did apologize for the scandal, and the way the Church has failed at dealing with it. And some used stronger language than others:

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Their penitence came hours after a contrite archbishop of Canterbury rang the archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, to try to defuse widespread anger and disbelief after he said the church in Ireland had lost "all credibility."

The Pope's belligerent reaction to anyone who questions him will undoubtedly go down as another one of his blunders. Now there's a strategy that should work out well.